From Achaemenids to Ayatollahs

In the wake of the American presidential campaign and ultimate re-election of incumbent Barak Obama the west lies saturated in the “issues” of the day.

Topics of national and international concern were used as focal points in presidential debates and used as fodder by the endless stream of pundits. Of the many concerns flooding public discourse, Iran and the potential nuclear threat it poses, have taken centre stage.

Ironically the discussion of Iran is essential to understanding the conflict raging in Syria, a subject I plan to tackle next week.

Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini

As much as I’d love to dive into the current and tumultuous relationship between Iran and the west I think it would be prudent to investigate just how the modern Islamic Republic came to be.

Enter Ruholla Khomeini – aka Ayatollah Khomeini. 

In 1921 a young military officer of in Iran’s Persian Cossack Brigade, Reza Khan (later Reza Shah), led a successful coup against Persian monarch Ahmad Shah Qajar. The reason for the coup was Qajar's inability to limit British and Soviet encroachments on Iranian sovereignty.

Thus the short-lived Pahlavi dynasty was established.

Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi 

Regarded as a steely and often tyrannical ruler Reza Shah would be succeeded on the 26 of October 1941 by his meek and sheepish son Mohammad Reza Shah. Mohammad Reza lacked the iron will of his father, a character trait that had ensconced Pahlavi rule. The case can be made that it was his timid demeanour that opened the door for a rise in clerical criticism in the country throughout the 1940’s.

During the 1940’s the vast majority of Iranians were deeply religious and traditional which often put them out of step with the new Shah’s commitment to modernization.

Not surprisingly those religious and traditional Iranians, so ostracized by the Shah’s move to westernization, had a strong regard for the Shia Ulema (clergy) and generally looked to their religious leadership as a source of guidance.

Like the clerical make-up of all faiths the Ulema is an umbrella term which covers any number of Shia clerical positions. Of principal rank in the Ulema is the Marja or Grand Ayatollah, a position only trumped by God, and the prophet. Marja literally means “source to imitate/follow” or “religious reference”.

In the early 1940’s a young Marja named Ruholla Khomeini found himself in the limelight following the death of a number of prominent Ayatollahs. In the power vacuum that remained Khomeini and his writings gained popular support.

A young Ruholla Khomeini

The young Khomeini had focused a great deal of his time arguing against secularism, an ideology embraced by the Shah. In fact his first book titled Kashf al-Asrar (Uncovering Secrets) was a point-by-point rebuttal of Asrar-e hazar salih (Secerets of a Thousand Years) the work of a prominent anti-clerical historian Ahmad Kasravi’s student.

So here we have a Shah, hell bent of modernization and secularism, and a population that was generally out of sync with those views. Seeing an increasing gap between their lives and the Shah’s Iran, the population began to rally around figures like Khomeini.

The 1940’s were in many was a coming of age for the worlds governments, as the end of WWII heralded a new political landscape rife with rapidly decelerating European colonialism, new political alliances, and the emerging cold war, of which Iran would become a central chessboard square.

The next chapter in Khomeini’s story comes in 1963 with the Shah’s White Revolution a six point program of reform and renewal. These initiatives were regarded as dangerous westernized ideals and practices by the Ulema and Khomeini openly criticized the Shah and his efforts. Riots and public protests supported by the Ulema erupted across the country.

With clear public support the anti-western attitudes of the Ulema were compounded in 1964 when the famous status-of-forces agreement was signed allowing U.S. forces stationed in Iran to be subject only to their own military courts. Khomeini say this as a clear extension of diplomatic immunity to foreign troops, something that did not sit well with him or his supporters.

After disturbing the Shah’s proverbial “shit” for the better part of two decades Khomeini was arrested and subsequently exiled in November 1964. Originally sent to Turkey Khomeini would spend the majority of his 15 years of exile in the Shia town of Najaf Iraq.

The Ayatollah remained a stark and outspoken critic of the Shah while in exile, gaining popular support within Iran all the while.

Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf in early 1970 which were eventually published in his most prolific and influential book titled Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist). It was here that Khomeini famously expanded the theory of velayat-e faqih or “guardianship of clerical authority” to encompass theocratic political rule by the Islamic Jurist, something he as a marja happened to be.

The three principal concepts of this work laid the foundations for the future Islamic republic. They are as follows.

1. The laws of a society should be those of God (Sharia Law)

·        2. Since Islamic law is the highest moral authority those in positions of political power should be    Islamic Jurists who have the clearest understanding of Sharia.

·        3. Clerical rule is essential to prevent injustice, corruption etc.

Khomeini repatriated in February 1979 to much public fanfare and support. In the face of a total lack of public support or confidence the Shah had left “on vacation” in January of that year, never to return.

With a provisional government under Shapour Bakhtiar intact, Ayatollah Khomeini declared “I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government.” Soon after he appointed his own competing prime minister saying “since I have appointed him he must be obeyed” claiming it was “God’s government” calling any moves against him or his appointee “revolt against God”

Khomeini's movement was gaining momentum and the support of some in the Iranian military following a revolt that captured armouries across the country. The Bakhtiar regime capitulated by the end of February.

About a month later on the 30 and 31 of March 1979 a referendum was held to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic passing with a landslide of public support.

The new constitution placed Ayatollah Khomeini as the Supreme leader of the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran, a title he held until his death.